February 13, 2010

BULLDOGS EDGED BY NO. 4 NORTH CAROLINA, 5-4, IN 2010 SEASON OPENER SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Boxscore

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - It was the type of underdog ending that happens in real life more often than it does in fairy tales.

After an epic 60-minute battle that saw the Bryant University men's lacrosse team take the fourth-ranked University of North Carolina down to the wire after tying the game late in the third quarter, the Bulldogs - in the debut of the program's second Division I season - would eventually succumb to the Tar Heels, 5-4, Saturday afternoon on Navy Field, falling just inches shy of shocking the lacrosse world.

And while fourth-year head coach Mike Pressler and his team believe there are no moral victories, there is no taking away the fact that the young Bulldogs proved in their 2010 season opener that they are a force to be reckoned with, that their time is now and that the so-called big boys of college lacrosse should start to watch their backs.

Down, 4-2, at the halftime break and having been outshot, 30-10, through the opening two frames, Bryant (0-1) came out for the final 30 minutes as if those numbers had been wiped clean.

Senior captain Bryant Amitrano (Stream Valley, N.Y.) got the Bulldogs to within one with his first goal of the season with 9:34 to play in the third session, a tally that came unassisted after the middie made a quick run in from the left side and launched a speedy shot past the calf of North Carolina goalie Chris Madalon.

The goal made it 4-3 in the home side's favor, but the Bulldogs had been playing catch-up all afternoon against a quick and agile Tar Heel side - the tally marked the third time Bryant had closed the gap to a single goal.

But it would take just more than six minutes to finally get the all-elusive equalizer, as the underclassmen combo of sophomore Travis Harrington (Vestal, N.Y.) and rookie Rhode Island native Ben Sternberg (North Kingstown, R.I.) netted the Bulldogs' fourth goal of the afternoon to draw an unexpecting North Carolina (2-0) side into a 4-4 knot.

After a successful Bryant clear - something that didn't come as often as it should have for the Bulldogs, who were just 18-of-27 on the day in clear attempts - Sternberg passed the ball off to Harrington, who ripped a shot that found its target from far to the left of the crease. It was the second time the pair had hooked up for a score in the game.

"I was very disappointed in how we failed to clear the ball," said Pressler. "It's something we practiced all week but this was our first time out of the box, our first game of the year, and we didn't show a lot of poise in that situation.

"But at the end of the day, I'm so excited for our guys just to have battled back," he added. "With a full 17-game slate and no exhibitions on the schedule, that was our first time out in 2010 against anybody. There are first-time mistakes that you are going to make, and the clearing game was one of them. Playing with poise in the first half was one of them - we were fortunate to only be down, 4-2."

The Bulldogs would go on to decisively win the third quarter, outscoring the Tar Heels, 2-0, while allowing them just seven shots after giving up 15 in each of the previous two periods.

"We started to clear it better," said Pressler. "We settled down a little bit, but the key for us was that we were getting great play in the goal from Jameson Love, and Andrew Hennessey was again dominant on the faceoff, which meant that when they did score they had to ride it back. So for us, that was certainly a positive thing on the day."

But with the score tied at 4-4, North Carolina would sneak past the Bryant defense, as Cryder DiPietro connected with Thomas Wood to give the home side back the one-goal advantage, 5-4.

"They scored that goal so early in the frame, we knew we were gonna get chances," said Pressler. "I give our guys credit - under two minutes to play, they had a one-goal lead and twice we doubled it and got it back. And at the end we got it back again after a bad turnover and Travis Harrington had an eight-yarder on the doorstep and hit the goalie. We score that one and who knows."

But despite 12:50 still to play in the contest, that would be the final tally of the game for either side. Still, both teams saw a number of opportunities to push the score around.

The Tar Heels nearly made it a two-goal game just 1:24 later, when 2009 Third Team All-American Sean DeLaney ripped a shot on Bryant sophomore goalie Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) from right in front of the crease. A quick stick and sharp move from Love wowed the crowd of over 1,000 captivated fans, and the second-year netminder came up with a huge save as the ball ricocheted off the shaft of his stick and out of harm's way.

"We're supposed to force him to the outside, but he rolled back into the middle," said Love about the play. "But we did a nice job doubling down and it gave me time to sit back and react on it."

And if that wasn't enough to prove Love had never heard of such a thing as a sophomore slump, he would go on to record a career-high 20 saves, impressive by any standards, besting his previous career mark by four stops.

"I was seeing the ball really well," he said. "Obviously against UNC I knew we were going to be playing a lot of defense and that they shoot the ball a lot and have a good shooting percentage. Ever since I was a kid, I've known UNC as shooters, so I knew I was going to have to come up big today.

"And the defense helped me look better than I was."

But as the minutes ticked away Madalon came up with some big saves of his own, stuffing rookie J.K. Poirier (Coatesville, Pa.) from point blank range with just under six to play.

But as the clock ticked down to under 2:00, it was defensive anchors Matt Murnane (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and Joe Rauchut (Philadelphia, Pa.) who gave the Bulldogs another chance for the equalizer.

With 1:25 to go, the pair muscled Carolina standout and First Team All-American Billy Bitter to the sideline on the Bryant side of the field where he fell out of bounds, forcing a key turnover to give the Bulldogs back the ball.

"What a bigtime play for Joe and Matt, that double-team situation," said Pressler. "Murn and Joe did such a great job to get the ball on the ground and to shove him out of bounds so we could go forward from there."

And in the waning seconds, it was Harrington who found himself with the ball. The sophomore came up with the best possible shot, firing from right on Madalon's doorstep. But the Tar Heel keeper would come up with the save, without a doubt the biggest of his nine stops, and keep Bryant just inches from forcing overtime.

"There were three stars for us today," Pressler said. "Jameson in the back, Murnane for the job he did on Billy Bitter and of course Andrew Hennessey, who we've come to really trust and enjoy in the middle, proving once again that he is very effective against opponents at a high level."

The Tar Heels would jump out to a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into Saturday's game and the home side doubled its advantage with 10:19 to play in the second quarter.

When DeLaney was flagged for a slash at the 9:31 mark, the Bulldogs made good on their first extra-man opportunity on the season with an unassisted goal from Gary Crowley (Scituate, Mass.) with under nine minutes before halftime.

The goal came after Madalon saved a Harrington shot, but the rebound, picked up by Crowley, gave the Bulldogs' a second opportunity to cut North Carolina's lead in half. Crowley scooped up the ground ball, took a step and fired, recording Bryant's first goal of the 2010 season and moving the score to 2-1.

UNC regained a multi-goal edge with 6:41 to play in the second period, when Wood put a tally into the side netting after a pass from Marcus Holman.

Both teams would get one more before the half ended, with Bryant scoring first to draw within one for the second time. After a successful Bulldog clear, Harrington passed the ball off to Sternberg at the top of the box and the frosh send a hard bouncing shot toward the Tar Heel goal where it found net with 3:46 on the clock.

But Carolina would get a man-up goal of its own with just over a minute to play to take a 4-2 lead into the intermission.

The Bulldogs and the Tar Heels each recorded 12 shots in the second half, but the home side used a 30-shot first half to own a 42-22 shot advantage on the day.

"We played great defense on almost all of their shots," said Love. "We didn't give up anything inside. We kept them outside, we cut off lanes and gave them poor angles. The defense did a great job of covering their shots."

 Carolina would pick up two ground balls more than the Black and Gold, 33-31, and failed on just two clears (20-22). Murnane paced the Bulldogs, tying a game high with six ground balls, while his four caused turnovers were a contest best. DeLaney ripped 11 shots to pace the Tar Heels and the game, while senior captain Andrew Hennessey (Wading River, N.Y.) proved once again why he was among the most elite faceoff specialists in the nation, winning 11-of-13 from the X against Carolina's William Scroggs.

Four Bulldogs made their collegiate debuts in the contest, including a pair - Sternberg and attackman Peter MacMahon (Wilton, Conn.) - in the starting lineup. Poirier took two shots off the bench for the Black and Gold while Mason Poli (Downingtown, Pa.) stepped in on defense for the Bulldogs.

Bryant will look for its first win of the season in just one week, when the Bulldogs host the University of Vermont in the 2010 home opener on Saturday, Feb. 20 at the Bryant Turf Complex (4 p.m.).